Jonathan Majors is so damn likable.
So much so that it was difficult to imagine him playing the antagonist in not one but two of the biggest movies of the year—Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, out today, and Creed III, out next month.
I have yet to watch or read a Majors’ interview that I didn’t enjoy. He is usually so thorough and thoughtful in his responses, careful in making sure he weaves the right words together to captivate what he is thinking. This is sometimes challenging when talking about a Marvel film, as the stars are usually strictly warned against spoilers, but even during a short interview, the actor makes it so that you feel like you have his full attention every second you’re speaking to him.
Majors is starring as Kang the Conqueror in Quantamania, and in Creed III as Adonis Creed’s opponent Damian Anderson. He’s phenomenal in both and makes you wonder how such a pleasant person can turn into two of the greatest movie villains we’ve seen in recent memory. This is no spoiler by any means because if you’ve seen him in any of his previous projects, you already knew the level of greatness to expect from him. But aside from the actor’s goal of making audiences happy with his performances, Majors also has high standards for himself.
The actor is a Yale School of Drama graduate, holding a Master of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious university—and it shows. It doesn’t matter if he’s starring in a superhero film or an action flick, he will show up as the thespian he is each and every time. He also has the looks, the charm, and the physique of a movie star—and for those who said there weren’t any real movie stars left, Majors is hell-bent on proving them wrong, because he has it all.
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Lilly is also the second person on a totally different project that I have heard say that Majors is fully committed to the characters he is playing even before he walks through the door. During the Creed III panel at ComplexCon in November, his costar and director Michael B. Jordan recalled Majors bumping loud music in the car as he pulled up to the set, choosing specific songs or artists like Tupac to get into the right groove. And now Lilly has corroborated that the actor uses music to set the tone for his performance, the way a boxer does before he steps into the ring.
“Jonathan is always blaring music on set. He comes in with a boombox, and he’s holding it in his hand and blaring music,” Lilly tells Complex. “And that music tells you so much about what to expect from him that day, from Kang in that scene, it’s always very telling. Sometimes it can be really aggressive hip-hop, sometimes it can be really elegant classical music, sometimes it can be atmospheric, kind of emo alternative out there music. I really dug how committed he is on set.”
After hearing those two stories, I ask Majors what he thinks Kang’s theme song would be, and he naturally chooses between two classic Notorious B.I.G. tracks. “One theme song? Notorious B.I.G.—I mean, it’d be ‘Juicy,’ right?” Majors says, before quickly changing his mind. “No, ‘Big Poppa.’ ‘Big Poppa.’ I love it when you call me Big Poppa, yeah.”
It’s not exactly the menacing tune that I expected for a big, bad villain, but it is a solid choice for the way Majors will confidently conquer everything in his path as Kang and beyond.
Watch Majors transform into Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, in theaters now.
